


the seven seas

by vaultboii



Series: Cuphead [1]
Category: Cuphead (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Collecting Contracts, Gen, character exploration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 12:53:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14497410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vaultboii/pseuds/vaultboii
Summary: the both of them are very different -- and yet, Mugman thinks, they're not so different after all.





	the seven seas

**Author's Note:**

> im a big fan of the nautical bosses so here i am, just writing small paragraphs about these dudes.
> 
> might have more chapters. currently it's just a reflection on brineybeard and cala maria.

She was always talked about in Isle 1.

Not condescendingly; oh, Heaven help you if you talked shit about the lovely mermaid within earshot of her subjects. Nah, there was awe in the voices of those who spoke about her, a sort of  _ tough  _ love. People twitched when her name was spoke. Sometimes a face would go a bit too red, and some would begin to stammer. They were quite  _ odd  _ reactions.

Even Elder Kettle spoke fondly of her at times. Sometimes, if Mugman caught the ol’ man in a good mood, he’d get a wistful sigh from the grandpa and a little tidbit of information. “Oh, she’s a good ol’ lass,” the Elder would say, flexing fingers on his cane. “Sweet ol’ doll. I don’t think I’ve met someone so adored and so adoring of her beloved underlings.” 

A pause. The Kettle would squint open both eyes and sear the words right through him.

“Stay away from her.”

* * *

 

“Oh dear  _ Jesus, _ ” Cuphead swore over radio when she first arose from the waters - a whirlpool of lavender and blue that glinted like scales. Waves gushed dangerously close; and with water came the tell-tale stutter of their engines. “Mugs - that’s her, righto? I can’t see through the water - that Briney or her?”

He can’t really respond right away, because his jaw’s still hoisting itself back to his face. She’s exactly how everyone claims her to look like; a tremendously giant lady adored in a octopus hat, eyes glinting warmth. There was no resemblance of an ordinary lass in her. Her lips were dry, almost parched from the sea-water, and her eyes ran too glossy and large. It’s the scars that get him, seared tissue up the left of one arm that was burnt through the slippery skin. 

“That’s her,” slips from his lips - and maybe he sounds a bit breathless, ‘cuz it’s not everyday you get to see 40 tons of giant mermaid rise from the sea with fluttering eyelashes. “That’s our lady.”

“Mugs, watch your six -” Cuphead says, but his voice is hovering around his ears, distant. “Mugs? Mugs, get your head out of the clouds, we have a contract to collect -”

_ They were all right about her _ , he thinks. Elder Kettle was right. She was a _ doll. _

And then she nearly slaps him out of the air with a blood-curdling shriek and  _ damn -  _ back to fighting as always.

* * *

 

Where Cala Maria is Beloved, Captain Brineybeard is  _ not _ .

He’s loud.  _ That’s an understatement _ , Mugman thinks as the pistol shot peels past his ear and has him ducking back behind the barrel --  _ an absolute understatement.  _ Briney’s loud and aggressive, and when he walks, it’s like the beat of a heart on the planks. 

_ Ta-thunk,  _ go the legs as Briney dodges a crackshot -- and Mugman dodges the returning fire again.

Briney’s past is like mist; Mugman can’t get a straight answer out of any pirates around these parts about the Captain, even when at the edge of a pistol. All he gets are rumours; about when Briney soared into port, about how the notorious pirate Captain lost his legs. “He got here ‘round the same time as Cala,” had whimpered one when Cuphead had cocked the trigger of the shotgun deeper into his chest. “We don’t know! We don’t ask.”

The Captains’ legs are a different matter. There are plenty of knowledge around these parts about those; however, all of it reeks of rumours and drunk tall tales. Some whisper that he was born crippled, some think he got them chopped off by a shark. The stories range from sword-fights to wild tales about going a few too many rounds with the whores in the back (which was both stupid and disrespectful, Mugman thinks). There’s a few of Cala’s supporters who say proudly, “Cala Maria bit them off herself.” 

Then eyes grow almost fearful. The few hide their voices, look around and say, “And Briney gave her that scar.”

Cuphead gestures vaguely for a plan from across the dock, but is interrupted by another pistol shot from the Captain. Obscenities rise from that general area, and Cuphead returns fire. Blue clips the edge of the man’s bandana.

_ Ta-thunk. Ta-thunk. Ta-thunk.  _ Briney leans over the side of his ship, and hollers, “Watch the  _ hat!” _

“It’s not a  _ hat!”  _ Cuphead yells back, because of course his brother wanted to pick a fight about whether a bandana counted as a hat or not. “It’s a piece o’ ugly cloth, that’s what!”

“Not as ugly as yer slacks, boy!”

“They’re the exact same as yours!”

The childish exchange goes on til 6PM, when Cuphead runs out of bullets and Briney’s voice is cracking from strain.

Mugman thinks, he probably lost his legs to Cala.

* * *

 

“Get away,” sneers the Captain in bitter rage. He's not resisting now; Mugman’s pretty sure the pirate ran out of bullets n’ tricks through the chase down to the Captain’s quarters. Despite that, the pirate still wields the pistol he's holding like a blunt weapon. “I ain't giving you my soul.”

Cuphead snorts. “You've lost,” his brother says, probably trying to sound as cool as those heroes on the Ol’ telly-box. “Give the contract over, Briney.”

Mugman’s not sure how a mustache could bristle from the words, but Captain Brineybeard manages it. “I ain’t lettin’ ya get  _ my  _ soul,” sneers the Captain in perfect, clipped words; they hold grace, an almost educated tone. The eyepatch on his eye has slipped down to reveal a white, lifeless pupil. Both eyes seem to hold Mugman’s gaze in steadfast fierceness.

_ He’s stubborn,  _ Mugman thinks.

“Bugger that fat Weasel on the throne,” the Captain continues with a bitter cough to the words. Red dots his lips. “You can’t pry my signature out of my hands.”

Cuphead sighs, and raises the plank a bit off the Captain’s chest. Mugman sees fire line his brother’s eyes, but for that second the cup looks so tired, and so done with this mindless quest. “Alright,” says his brother. “It’s the hard way then. Give us the signature, and I'll let this accursed vessel back in port.”

“My men won't mind drowning for their Captain,” chokes Brineybeard. Dogged spite underlines his words. "You'll have to try harder than  _ that _ ."

"Cuphead. Here." Mugman reaches for the board with trembling fists. It's almost one in the morning. They don't have time to waste. "Allow me."

The plank swings nicely. 

Captain Brineybeard laughs between hits until they become coughs.


End file.
